


Burning Underneath

by gunpowdereyes



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-14
Updated: 2011-12-14
Packaged: 2018-01-24 01:47:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,698
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1587155
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gunpowdereyes/pseuds/gunpowdereyes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Christmas morning fluff and nonsense.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Burning Underneath

Christmas morning began the way many other mornings began at Jason's house: with Jason sitting unceremoniously on Antoine.  "Are you awake?" Jason asked, bending to peer into Antoine's face.  
  
Antoine groaned, his attempt to pull the sheets over his head thwarted, with Jason sitting on them.  "No.  Go away."  
  
"Can't," Jason told him, "it's Christmas!  Get the fuck up so I can open stuff."  He smiled cheerfully when Antoine blinked up at him.  
  
"I think you mean 'good morning,' or 'Merry Christmas,' or 'I'm sorry I'm crushing you,' or something."  
  
Jason pretended to consider that.  "No, I think I meant 'get the fuck up so I can open stuff, or else I'll sing carols until you do.'  But that other stuff too, probably."  He bent to kiss Antoine, brushing mouth up his jaw to nip his earlobe.  " _Dashing through the snow_ . . ."  
  
"Okay, I'm up!  I'm up!  Don't sing!"  He shoved Jason off of him and sat up, scowling as he attempted to tame his sleep-wild hair.  "I can't believe you want to kill me for Christmas."  
  
"Oh, for fuck's -- for starters, you totally underrate my musical talent!"  Jason hopped to his feet.  "Secondly, not  _kill you_ , don't be so fucking dramatic.  Especially not until I see if you got me shitty presents or not.  What kind of guy do you think I am?"  He laughed and ducked the pillow that came flying at him from the bed.    
  
"We will just see who survives!"  But Antoine pulled on boxers with a minimum of grumbling and followed Jason downstairs, eyes widening when he took in the truly incredible number of presents under (and beside, and sharing a room with) the tree.  "You know, I thought I was just seeing double last night from the eggnog, but that is a lot of fucking stuff for two people."  He stared around a moment longer, then shrugged and sat in the middle of a pile of his presents, starting in on the closest boxes.  
  
"I know!"  Jason grinned, kneeling down next to his own gifts to follow suit.  "There's a bit more than last night though, I figured you wouldn't be able to leave some of them alone . . . like that one, wait, don't open that yet--!"  
  
His protest fell on deaf ears as Antoine lunged for a bulky, clumsily wrapped present standing in front of the tree.  Antoine tore the wrapping off, then sat back on his heels, looking confused.  "Okay, so you . . . bought something for you and accidentally wrapped it for me," he said slowly, fitting the puzzle together, "which means there is another present somewhere that you think is yours, but is really mine?"  He looked around expectantly, as if this mysterious present would appear at any moment.  
  
Jason shook his head.  "No, that's -- how fucking dumb do you think I am?  That one's for you!"  
  
"But it's . . . golf clubs."  Antoine pulled one all the way out, just to be sure, then let it fall back with a clatter that made Jason wince.   Antoine stared from Jason to the clubs and back, brow furrowing in concern.  "Did you hit your head?"  
  
"No!"  Jason threw a ball of paper at him, exasperated.  "See, I figure at least half the reason you suck so fucking hard at golf --"  
  
"Flattery is my favourite."  
  
"-- besides the part where you don't listen and you have a terrible attitude," Jason went on, sparing him a scowl, "is that you're always using my clubs, and my clubs are, you know, _mine_.  I think maybe getting you-clubs is a good place to start.  And look how nice these are, these are perfect for you!"  He crawled closer to pull out a driver, running fingers over it admiringly.  Antoine nodded along, holding up a hand before Jason could take a breath to continue.  
  
"Jase, the only problem is that I hate golf and golf hates me, and giving me my own clubs just means I will lose or break my own clubs instead of yours, if I ever play again."  He paused.  "Is that why I have my own clubs?"  
  
"No -- well, a little bit, but not really!  Seriously, I thought it was a good idea, and we could go out in the summer and you could _really_ try to learn and it'd be fun."  He pushed the club back into the bag and shrugged, looking away.  "It's okay, I'll take them back.  Sorry."  
  
Antoine watched Jason's shoulders drop, watched him study his nails with a pronounced sniff, watched him nod to the rest of the presents.  Antoine tried to keep the amusement out of his voice when he spoke.  "Are you going to cry?"  
  
"No," Jason said quietly.  "Just not really how I pictured it, that's all.  I took all day to pick out the right ones so you'd like 'em.  But it's no big deal."  He sniffed again.  
  
They sat in silence, Jason picking at a piece of tape that clung stubbornly to a box of hockey cards and Antoine trying to ignore him, until Antoine finally groaned.  "Fine, I'll really try to learn," he said, and rolled his eyes when Jason's head shot up.  "Yes, really.  Cross my heart.  Anything to put me out of my misery, Christ, do you know how bad you are at that?"  He hung his head at Jason's whoop of delight.  
  
"HA!  You never get to call me a sucker ever again!  Man, you went for that hook, line and sinker.  Why don't I tape this shit?"  He grinned, shameless, and Antoine fought very, very hard not to smile back.  
  
"Whatever, falling for it like once every ten million years is not the same as falling for it six times a day, so shut the hell up.  And I did not even _really_ fall for it, so it doesn't really count.  And give me more presents!"  He held out his hands expectantly, hmmph-ing when Jason actually did fill his arms with a stack of smaller gifts, mostly from Antoine's family.  
  
"Poor little Antoine.  Don't worry, I'll only take you to the really good courses."    
  
"Cours _es_?" Antoine asked, staring sadly at him over the lid of a shoebox (sneakers from his sister, who thoughtfully got him the exact pair he pointed out six times when she was in town).  
  
"Yeah, it'll be great!  We can fuck on some of 'em too, don't worry.  There's always a built-in reward program.  Hey, socks."  Jason held up the stack of sports socks to consider them.  "I like how mom thinks I can't buy my own socks."  
  
"I like how your mom knows you never _do_ buy your own socks," Antoine muttered.  
  
"Well, come on, who shops for socks?"  Jason shrugged, breezily waving off Antoine's snort of laughter.  "Here, open this one."  He handed Antoine a box wrapped in shiny silver paper.  Antoine shook it to make sure it didn't sound like golf balls, then opened it, grinning as he pulled out a stack of DVDs.    
  
He leaned across the growing pile of wrapping paper to kiss Jason.  "Porn really is the way to my heart.  See, that's so much better."  He inspected one title, turning the case over to peer at the scene on the back.  "Oh, wow.  We should watch this one today."  
  
"Definitely.  It has excellent reviews, it's -- oh, fucking sweet."  He ran his thumb around the dial of the watch he'd just opened, then took it out to try it on.    
  
Antoine smiled.  "You like it?  It has all kinds of cool features, you can time yourself like a million different ways," he reached over to point out some of the buttons, "and it's so cool-looking, you can wear it practically anywhere, and --" he registered his nervous rambling, and stopped.  Jason liked _everything_ , but it was still fun to make his eyes light up.  
  
"Dude, yeah, it's awesome."  Jason smiled back.  "Thanks!"    
  
Two suits, a small mountain of games, a phone, five pairs of jeans, car care products, countless DVDs, truffles ("oh my god, you DO love me," Antoine breathed in wide-eyed amazement), eight gift cards, an autographed Summit Series jersey, one copy of "Cooking for Dummies" ("Very funny," said Jason, then took to it with an interest that alarmed Antoine into reminding him that it was a gag gift, and the kitchen was fine as it stood), a new TV for the bedroom (life was meaningless if they couldn't wake up to  _Sportscentre_ in HD, they agreed) and dozens of odds and ends later, Jason collapsed next to a pile of wrapping paper.  "Good haul," he said happily.  
  
"Mmph," Antoine agreed around a truffle, eyes closed in bliss.    
  
Jason laughed, reaching up to pluck a piece of snowflake-patterned paper from Antoine's hair.  "That's not really what I had in mind for breakfast."  
  
"Well . . . I still want real breakfast, don't worry," Antoine said.  "Something with bacon, right?"   
  
"Ugh, gross.  Egg white omelettes?"  He slid his hand through Antoine's hair to curl around the back of his neck, drawing him down to kiss, and humming his pleasure when Antoine shifted to stretch out on top of him.  "And that's not exactly the kind of breakfast I meant."    
  
"Omelettes and bacon.  And no?"  Antoine sighed against Jason's mouth, then pulled back an inch to smile at him.  "You meant the kind where you show me how much you loved all those awesome presents and tell me they were so cool, you don't even need anything for your birthday?"  
  
"Yeah . . . don't get carried away."  Jason kissed the corner of his mouth.  "Close, though.  I was thinking more like you could show me how much you secretly loved your clubs."    
  
Antoine smirked.  "Don't hold your fucking breath."  
  
"Oh, you'll come around!  You'll see."  Jason shifted beneath him, drawing a soft sound from Antoine.  "But for now, I maybe do have an extra present for you."    
  
". . . If you say 'in your pants,' you are not getting laid for a week."    
  
Jason paused.  "Aw, c'mon, we both know you'd hold out for ten minutes, tops."    
  
"How about you shut up already so we don't waste ten minutes finding out?"   
  
"How about -- yeah, okay."  Jason's laughter faded to a smile as they kissed, and morning wore on into afternoon.


End file.
